3 Easy Ways to Skyrocket Earnings from a Single Client

Getting a new client is 3x harder than securing a repeat gig from an existing one. This makes sense. Your present customers already know and respect you. They’ve seen the great value you provide.

However, a prospective client doesn’t know nor trust you yet. You’re yet to prove yourself. You might be a bungling amateur as opposed to the masterful pro they’re looking for. So it makes sense to focus on your current clients. It’s cheaper, easier, and more profitable.

Maximizing pay from a single client is one of the secrets highly-paid writers use to gross decent earnings.

In this post I’ll show you 3 easy ways to supercharge your earnings from one client.

Ready to dig in?

#1. ‘Wow’ your current clients with stellar service

When serving a client, good is simply not good enough.

You have to be epic. Woo them with your brilliance so they feel compelled to work with you. Again and again.

How, you ask?

Easy peasy. Do the basics right:

First, make sure you meet deadlines.

By just meeting or beating deadlines you’ll shoot to the top 10% of freelancers. Exclude clients from your personal drama. We all have problems.

According to the Accenture Broken Promises research, 90% of clients say the most commonly broken promise is on-time delivery of services.

Second, produce results.

Give your client’s conversions a huge lift. Make their content rank higher. Help them make more money than they’ve ever made. Do that and they’ll happily hire you over and over.

Let me give you an example.

There’s a client I’ve had for just over a month now. I’ve billed her $1600 for 8 projects in that time. Yes, you heard that right: 8 gigs in a single month. Repeat business is sweet and swift. Know why she keeps coming back for more? I impress her every time.

Third, be an effective communicator.

That’s part of being a good service provider. Don’t disappear into your freelancer cave and ignore client emails. It’ll backfire on you.

A Zendesk survey revealed that 82% of clients have stopped doing business with a service provider because of bad customer service.

#2. Master the art of the lucrative upsell

Here’s a typical scenario.

You’ve nailed a project. You scored a perfect 10 in every aspect. Your client can’t stop singing your praises. You’ve made her look cool before her team or boss. She’s elated. She’s even considering naming her first child after you.

What do you do?

Appreciate her good words? Sure, that’s what a decent human would do.

Use her glowing praise as a testimonial? Wow. That’s a great idea.

Ask for a referral? Now that’s a super-cool way of maximizing the moment.

Over and above that, sell her more: enter the upsell.

An upsell is a sales strategy where the seller (that’s you, my friend) provides opportunities to purchase related products or services, often for the sole purpose of making a larger sale.

Keyword: related.

For an upsell to work, the offered product or service must be connected to the original purchase. McDonald’s doesn’t offer you a calculator as an upsell, do they?

Did a landing page? Offer to do the accompanying thank you page as well.

Aced a long form post? Suggest turning it into a lead magnet.

Been writing lots of posts for a client? Offer a turnkey package that includes content strategy, promotion and management.

You can make good money through upsells.

I love the way top copywriter Jacob McMillen explains why upselling works so well.

“When done correctly, upselling connects a problem people are actively trying to solve with a solution provider they are already happy with. Upselling eliminates all the hassle that comes with finding a new product or service provider. And that’s why, when done correctly, having someone upsell you is a big convenience.”

Serve your client and make more money through the upsell.

#3. Offer your services as a recurring gig

Freelancers often go through the feast-famine cycle.

One moment you’re flooded with clients and your schedule is full. In a couple of weeks you hit a dry patch when you struggle to land a single client. As a result your cash reserves dwindle.

One way of overcoming this is through recurring gigs.

Retainer gigs ensure that you get guaranteed income each month so you keep the lights on. Don’t wait for such gigs to come to you; propose them to your client.

Let’s say you’ve written a couple of blog posts for a client. She’s thrilled and blown away by your work and the value you provide. Suggest to her, “How about having these sort of posts x times a month/week?”

Sweeten the offer by leveraging a discount since you’ll be getting regular work. Take the time to explain how the regular work will benefit the client’s overall goals.

Keep the cash register ringing through repeat gigs.

Expert Opinion

I reached out to top business writer Sue-Ann Bubacz of Write Mix for Business and asked her to spill the beans bucks on how to maximize earnings from one client. Here’s what she said:

“My biggest secrets to grow a client to the biggest chunk of business possible is to position myself as a THE go-to source for them.

Essentially, you want to be a partner to their business without having to work in-house. You want to make certain to prove your reliability and always add value to any project you are part of.

And, this is very important, you have to establish your credibility by always bringing something new. Innovation and ideas as well as industry leading information makes you stand out. Make yourself essential!”

Qhubekani Nyathi

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No Comments

Elvis Michael
February 19, 2018 @
3:59 pm

Couldn’t agree more, especially with the upsell. Package your services into a bundle, which can be irresistible depending on your offer. For example, a novice web developer with some writing experience may ask to manage a client’s entire blog (publishing 2-3 posts and handling the technical side of things).

Thanks for the post, which is also screaming with personality 😉

Elvis

Qhubekani
February 19, 2018 @
4:21 pm

Glad the post resonated Elvis.

Thanks for the addition of bundling one’s services. Also thrilled to hear I connected with you as a human .. that’s what I always strive for. I write for humans, machines can always catch up later, hey ?

Kato
February 21, 2018 @
3:31 pm

This is gold, Qhubekani!

So many times as freelancers we fail to maximize our open doors because of not doing one or all of the above.

I’ll print this and stick it on my workstation as a constant memo to self.

This is a powerful message you just made here, especially the aspect of upselling.

I was just thinking about introducing it yesterday to a client but at a point, I said let me pause a bit until I get some referrals from her and possibly do a repeat work. Since what I was trying to upsell her was very expensive compared the service she hired me for, I thought in my heart it will be more intelligent to offer her something a bit higher than the former but not as expensive as what I had in mind.

Do you think that was a wise decision I made?

Thanks for sharing. Great thanks to Elvis.

Emenike

Qhubekani
February 22, 2018 @
3:25 am

Hi Emmanuel,

I appreciate your kind words.

Moving on to your question. It’s hard to say whether you made the right decision or not by delaying your upsell. Yes, there are many factors to be considered like how much the client trusts you, how you frame the offer, pricing etc. For me, it boils down to this crucial question:

Do you genuinely feel, without a shadow of doubt, that your offer will bring great value to your client and make things way better for her business? If the answer is yes I see no reason to delay the offer.

Let’s say you discover the cure to AIDS today. Your miracle drug will touch millions of lives world over. Would you wait a day longer before you tell people about it? I don’t think so ?. Does this make sense?

Hey Q…
Okay if I give you a nickname? I love your work on this piece and appreciate having a part. Making yourself stand out is certainly a part of upselling but, if you don’t offer more, like bundled projects, it’s a lot harder to scale up and build account based growth. Well, thanks again for including me and keep up the great work! Best—Sue-Ann

Thanks for the great tips on maximizing the return from you clients. For sure the basics (like meeting deadlines) are necessary. But, as you mentioned, when you wow them, you can get more/ongoing business and importantly more referrals to other clients.

Qhubekani
March 14, 2018 @
11:42 am

Hi Rich,
Thank you for your response sir.

Happy you picked one or two tips. Yes, ‘wowed’ clients are happy to refer a service provider to other people. Maybe it’s just me, referrals seem to be high quality clients compared to customers that come through other avenues.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Qhubekani
March 14, 2018 @
11:45 am

Hi Rich,
Thank you for your response sir.

Happy you picked one or two tips. Yes, ‘wowed’ clients are happy to refer a service provider to other people. Maybe it’s just me, referrals seem to be high quality clients compared to customers that come through other avenues.